Giving the gift of life: COVID-19 survivor donating plasma to help others recover

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com

After recovering from COVID-19, Kristen Cocciolone has decided to give the gift of life to strangers this holiday season.
Cocciolone, of Monessen, is the owner of Kristen’s Beauty Salon in North Belle Vernon. She goes every two weeks to the Red Cross in Greensburg to donate her plasma, which now contains COVID-19 antibodies, in hopes of helping others recover from the coronavirus.
“In early August, I woke up one morning and didn’t have a sense of smell or taste,” she said. “I figured I had COVID, so I went to get a test and started to quarantine while I waited for the results.”
Five days later, her test results came back positive and she started to research the virus online.
“I was reading a lot of articles about people who had survived COVID, and a lot of them said for some people who were critically ill the turning point was then they received plasma,” she said. “I knew right then that if I did not have a severe case and was able to recover I wanted to donate my plasma to help other people.”
According to the Federal Drug Administration, people who have recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their blood that may help treat people who have recently contracted the virus.
So far, more than 40,000 patients have received plasma treatments for COVID-19, which is not possible if those eligible do not donate.
Plasma is the yellow, liquid part of blood that contains antibodies, which are proteins made by the body in response to infections.
The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma to be used in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
“I feel lucky to have had mild symptoms,” she said. “I think I would have felt better sooner if I didn’t have such a physically demanding job, but it took about six weeks for me to feel normal.”
In October, when she started to feel like herself again, she made her first appointment with the Red Cross in Greensburg. But, she was not sure what to expect.
“I was nervous going into my first appointment because some people said it could take between three to four hours, but it was actually a really simple process,” she said.
Donating plasma is a lot like giving blood. A needle is placed into a vein in your arm. Plasma is collected through a process call plasmapheresis and is conducted in cycles.
Once a needle is placed into a vein in the donor’s arm, whole blood is drawn.
The plasma is then separated from the red blood cells and other cellular components and returned into the body with saline solution to help the body replace the plasma removed from the whole blood.
“It was so easy,” she said. “I was only ever on the machine for about a half an hour, and unlike when you give blood, I never felt dizzy, light-headed or nauseous.
“I wasn’t feeling weak or tired and was able to go about a regular day.”
When she shows up for her appointment, staff members in the office prepare her for the donation, sit her in a comfortable chair and turn on the TV so she can watch an episode of her favorite show until the procedure is over.
So far, Cocciolone has donated plasma five times, with the potential to help three people with each donation.
“You are able to go every week, but I have been going every other week,” she said.
Through a smart phone app administered through the Red Cross, she is able to track what types of institutions receive her plasma to use in their treatments.
It has reached as far as New Jersey.
She will be eligible to donate plasma as long as her blood still carries COVID-19 antibodies.
“I was scared in the beginning, but after I learned how simple and painless this was I wanted to share my story so more people might decide to do this. It’s an easy thing to do with the potential to save someone’s life, so why not?
“For me, I am going to continue to donate every two weeks as long as I have the antibodies or this is no longer needed and I hope other people decide to do the same.”
For more information, to find out if you meet the eligibility requirements or to find a location near you, go to coronavirus.gov.